11 Unique Rear-engine Cars That Stood The Test Of Time

Rear-engine cars are not arsenic wide today, prevention for nan evergreen Porsche 911. However, nan first ever automobile — nan Benz Patent Motorwagen — had its motor positioned down nan rear axle. Genius German technologist Ferdinand Porsche past perfected nan look pinch nan Volkswagen Beetle, which went connected to go 1 of nan best-selling vehicles of each time. Further down nan line, Fiat mobilized Italy pinch nan rear-engine 500 and 600.

Still, location were galore unsocial rear-engine cars that appeared earlier and aft nan warfare that are forgotten today. These cars dared to beryllium different and tried to break nan norm backmost successful nan day. Some offered amended practicality; others pushed nan capacity crippled to a full caller level. Even nan American car manufacture had its adjacent stock of rear-engine cars that made history. Regardless, these rear-engine machines stood nan trial of clip and influenced nan manufacture going forward. So, get ready, because connected this rear-engine adventure, you'll meet fallen heroes, Kei car gems, rally conquerors, and grin-inducing machines.

1,144 pounds (565 kg). That's really small 1 Alpine A110 weighs, and it should springiness you a clear image of what this French masterpiece is each about. Lightness equals much speed. Better handling. Better braking. Thanks to it, Alpine was capable to get distant pinch a rear-mounted, miniscule 1.0-liter four-cylinder engine, which was bully for only 52 hp. Yes, nan first exemplary wasn't quick, but it has group nan reside for 1 of nan champion sports cars successful history.

But Alpine, which was a standalone institution astatine nan time, wasn't going to fto nan fantabulous chassis spell to waste. The institution competed pinch nan A110 successful world rallies, aft all, truthful it needed much powerfulness to beryllium competitive. So, successful 1965, Alpine launched an improved A110 pinch nan 1.3-liter motor from nan Renault 8 Gordini. Sounds small? It produced a patient 120 hp, which was capable for a apical velocity of 141 mph! Power only continued to spell up pinch consequent models, pinch nan pinnacle A110 being equipped pinch a 1.86-liter, 180-hp engine.

But nan measurement nan Alpine A110 makes you consciousness is 2nd to none. In its review, MotorTrend praised everything from nan engine's sound to nan lively yet unchangeable handling. This surely helped nan A110 triumph nan first inaugural World Rally Championship successful 1973, and nan Rally Monte Carlo successful 1971 and 1973, but it besides makes it a blast to drive. Manual transmission pinch 4 aliases 5 speeds was besides modular connected nan A110, which only added to nan excitement. Unfortunately, the brand-new Alpine A110 is automatic only, but is still an astonishing sports car.

Few cars look arsenic harmonious arsenic nan Suzuki Fronte Coupe. The truth that Giugiaro managed to worldly truthful galore specifications successful a car that's conscionable 117.9 inches agelong and 60 inches wide is genuinely astonishing. Wait – that Giorgetto Giugiaro? Yup, nan legendary Italian designer penned Suzuki's wedge-shaped sports car, and we person to say, it's a rakish small thing.

But nan creation is only a portion of nan story. The Fronte Coupe was developed arsenic a Japanese Kei car, meaning isolated from being little than 3 meters agelong (118.1 inches), it had to person a tiny, sub-356cc engine. In nan Forte Coupe, that motor sat successful nan back, though Suzuki still achieved an fantabulous 48:52 weight distribution. In different words — it was nosy to propulsion astir corners. Suzuki knew this and moreover offered crazy accessories, for illustration bucket seats, a JAF-spec rotation cage, and aero parts!

And present is nan saucy part: Suzuki opted for a two-stroke, three-cylinder layout to extract arsenic overmuch powerfulness arsenic possible. As a result, nan air-cooled motor produced 37 hp. Yeah, yeah, support your section mower comparisons to yourself because that translates into a circumstantial output of 103.9 hp per liter. Besides, nan Fronte Coupe weighed conscionable 1,100 pounds, truthful it had a apical velocity of 78 mph.

A bigger and much powerful type called nan Cervo arrived successful 1977. It was equipped pinch a acold much potent 970cc four-stroke inline-4 pinch 47 hp. Cervo's apical velocity was bumped to 85 mph, but it was besides marred by a 342-pound weight penalty.

The Corvair is 1 of Chevy's astir fascinating cars ever made. A rear-engine rebel that went against nan norms of nan post-war American car industry, nan Corvair could've been nan adjacent awesome thing. It had each nan bully ingredients from nan beginning. Lightweight unibody construction? Check. Four-wheel independent suspension and an advanced, all-aluminum, air-cooled flat-six engine? Check and check. The Corvair was moreover named Motor Trend's 1960 Car of nan Year, alongside cosmopolitan praise from different media outlets. Had it attracted much buyers, we would've astir apt lived successful an alternate timeline, wherever astir American cars had rear flat-six engines.

The sporty Monza Spyder, launched successful 1960, was an moreover much awesome portion of kit. People called it nan "American Porsche" astatine nan time, a nickname that was moreover much deserved erstwhile nan Corvair Monza Spyder received a turbocharger successful 1962. This bumped nan 2.4-liter flat-six's output from 102 to 150 hp and enabled a 0-60 clip of 10.3 seconds. The Monza Spyder exemplary besides had a floor-mounted four-speed manual transmission and bucket seats. The second-gen Corvair Corsa was moreover saucier, packing an 180-hp tune of nan flat-six engine. 0-60 took conscionable 7.8 seconds, an awesome feat for nan time.

Unfortunately, a concatenation of events sealed Corvair's destiny from nan outset. Ralph Nader's 1965 book, "Unsafe astatine Any Speed," criticized nan information of American cars, and he utilized nan 1960-1963's Corvair arsenic nan first example, though it handled corners rather well. The communicative quickly went viral, hurting sales. Ford besides launched nan Mustang that aforesaid year, a rustle that nan Corvair could not retrieve from.

The Tatra T77 has earned nan 'Secret Weapon' moniker quickly aft it went live. The reason? It reportedly killed enthusiast Nazi drivers, who exceeded nan car's capabilities while cornering, starring to rather a fewer accidents. And it was each owed to nan rear-engine layout, agelong wheelbase, and plaything axle suspension. Put simply, location was excessively overmuch weight connected nan rear axle. According to immoderate reports, Hitler moreover banned nan T77 from being sold successful Germany.

While we can't factually corroborate astir of these reports, it's existent that nan T77 had twitchy handling. Still, let's not hide that this futuristic-looking automobile was launched successful 1934. Yup, cars weren't precisely corner-carving machines backmost then. It was besides (probably) nan astir precocious pre-war car, pinch a streamlined design that allowed for fantabulous aerodynamics. Of course, nan rear-engine layout was important to execute that, but Paul Jaray, a Zeppelin designer, moreover utilized a upwind passageway to scope an outstanding resistance coefficient of 0.36. The fin successful nan backmost looks benignant of rad, too.

Still, nan prima of nan show was nan 3.0-liter air-cooled V8 successful nan back. This point had hemispherical combustion chambers measurement earlier Chrysler launched its first HEMI V8 successful 1951. Also, it had a magnesium alloy block. Dry sump lipid strategy pinch a distant lipid cooler. As a result, nan V8 produced 60 hp and propelled nan T77 to 87 mph. A twelvemonth later, Tatra introduced nan T77A, which had a larger 3.4-liter motor pinch 75 hp. Top speed: 93 mph. For a massive, luxury-oriented 1930s car, that's rather nan achievement.

Picture a car 139.2 inches long, 57.1 inches wide, and 62.2 inches high. Now ideate fitting six group successful 3 seating rows inside. Sounds impossible, right? Well, Fiat did conscionable that pinch nan Fiat 600 Multipla backmost successful 1956! Of course, nan in installments goes to nan rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive setup, which meant that location was nary driveshaft nether nan floor.

Ah, yes, you are not imagining — location is nary beforehand hood. It makes america uneasy, too, but information was evidently not portion of nan plan. Affordability and practicality were king here. And to make it arsenic affordable arsenic possible, nan Multipla was built connected the highly successful Fiat 600, nan metropolis car that motorized post-war Italy. Like its smaller sibling, nan Fiat 600 Multipla proved hugely popular, peculiarly arsenic a taxi aliases fleet vehicle. Still, group besides converted it into a camper van aliases a commercialized conveyance utilized to carrier goods. It genuinely deserved its name, which translates into 'multipurpose.'

If each that sounds familiar, it's because nan Fiat 600 Multipla had each nan traits of a modern minivan. So, successful a sense, its layout stood nan trial of time. Yes, modern minivans are importantly safer. Faster, too. The Multipla had only 21.5 hp and a apical velocity of conscionable 56 mph. However, it could besides fresh done tight metropolis streets and didn't costs a luck to bargain aliases own. Besides, its cutesy creation still looks benignant of appealing today.

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The Mini sits atop nan British industry's car heap arsenic nan astir successful mini car. However, during its era, it had a fierce rival: nan Hillman Imp. The antithesis of nan Mini, Hillman's mini family car had a rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, but was packaged successful a unique, caller way. Namely, Imp's 875cc motor was canted astatine 45 degrees for a little halfway of gravity.

Why does that matter successful a mini family car, you mightiness ask? Well, British drivers worth handling much than their American counterparts. So, for nan Imp, occurrence meant it had to beryllium playful connected a twisty road. Hillman besides equipped nan Imp pinch afloat independent suspension and a slick four-speed gearbox. It was truthful good, apparently, that Auto Express called nan handling 'kart-like.' Hillman moreover spiced things up pinch the wonderfully bizarre Lady Imp and Lord Imp concepts astatine nan 1965 San Francisco International Car Show, each designed for nan 2 genders.

Yes, nan Imp wasn't fast. The mini four-cylinder motor produced only 39 hp, capable for a 0-60 clip of 24 seconds. Even so, nan all-aluminum centrifugal was consenting to rev up to its 7,000-rpm redline. For those who wanted much oomph, Hillman introduced a 50-hp type successful 1966, which sprinted to 60 successful 16.6 seconds and had an 86-mph apical speed. The Imp was decently practical, too, astatine slightest for its size.

Unfortunately, mediocre reliability and build value killed Imp's chances of beating nan Mini's vastly superior income numbers. Although Hillman planned to build 150,000 Imps annually, it only produced 440,000 units complete nan model's 13-year accumulation span.

Do you deliberation you cognize BMW? Think again, because measurement earlier nan 2002 Turbo and E30 M3, nan Bavarian automaker was building a VW Beetle rival pinch an air-cooled motor down nan rear axle. But don't fto that fool you into reasoning that this wasn't a existent BMW. Yes, nan BMW 700 was a inexpensive family car, but 1 that went racing and won against rivals for illustration nan Porsche Spyder and RSK.

The road-going BMW 700 was equipped pinch a flat-twin 'boxer' motor borrowed from BMW's motorcycle division. It produced conscionable 30 hp, which translated into a glacial 0-60 clip of 32 seconds. Hey — astatine slightest it sewage past 60! The charismatic apical velocity was 75 mph, pinch nan improved 32-hp Luxus type bumping that to 78 mph.

Yet nan type everyone wanted was nan BMW 700 Coupé Sport, which had a higher 9:1 compression ratio and 2 carburetors. This accrued nan output to 40 hp and nan apical velocity to 85 mph. 0-60 took little than 20 seconds. BMW moreover offered an optional stiffer suspension and sports gearbox, hinting astatine its early occurrence arsenic a capacity brand.

In fact, had it not been for nan 700, BMW would've astir apt not existed today. BMW sold 200,000 examples of its inexpensive family car successful nan short, six-year accumulation span. This has saved nan struggling automaker from definite bankruptcy, allowing it to move into 1 of nan industry's astir revered brands.

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Ah, nan DeLorean DMC-12. The Hollywood fable of our teens surely brings fond memories. The car's cool, stainless-steel assemblage was a cleanable lucifer for its clip instrumentality role. It made you judge it could really recreation done clip — erstwhile it reached 88 mph, of course. Unfortunately, successful nan existent world, nan clip instrumentality ne'er took off, ending arsenic 1 of nan industry's top disasters.

So, what happened? Let's opportunity that nan car's creator, John Zachary DeLorean, aimed excessively high. Yes, astir of what he planned ended up successful nan futuristic sports car. The stainless-steel bodywork made it rather unsocial among its contemporaries, pinch Tesla borrowing nan thought for its caller Cybertruck. The gullwing-style doors look bully to this day, particularly because they are placed connected a gorgeous, angular assemblage designed by nary different than Giorgetto Giugiaro.

Still, DeLorean besides planned to usage 'Elastic Reservoir Moulding' composite for nan chassis, only to extremity up pinch nan cheaper Vacuum Assisted Resin Injection (VARI) structure. The DMC-12 besides suffered from electronics issues. The Gullwing doors were excessively heavy. Oh, and nan motor overheated because of mediocre ventilation.

The DMC-12's mechanical bosom was besides earnestly underpowered. The 2.85-liter V6, developed by Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo, produced conscionable 130 hp, and propelled nan car to 60 successful a slow 9 seconds. Top speed: 120 mph. For $25k, nan DMC-12's guidelines value erstwhile new, that was not enough. For comparison, nan 1981 Chevy Corvette had a 190-hp, 5.7-liter V8, and came astatine astir $16k. Hey, at slightest nan DeLorean DMC-12 looked fast!

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Much for illustration John Zachary DeLorean, Preston Tucker besides aimed precocious pinch his first creation. Only successful this case, he flopped not because he couldn't deliver, but because the Tucker 48 was excessively bully for Detroit. According to Tucker, nan Detroit Big Three sent spies into nan company's works and cautiously organized a run that would not let nan Tucker 48 to participate production. The SEC besides launched an investigation into nan Tucker Corporation, which halved nan brand's value. Oh, and he was besides not allowed to bargain 2 alloy plants, moreover though he was nan highest bidder. All this led to accumulation stalls and, 2 years later, killed nan institution entirely.

That's sad, because nan Tucker 48 was a earnestly awesome automobile. In nan rear, it housed a 5.5-liter Franklin Helicopter flat-6. The water-cooled motor produced 166 hp and 372 lb-ft of torque and reportedly brought it to 120 mph. The Tucker 48 besides had afloat independent suspension and four-wheel disc brakes, which weren't very communal astatine nan time.

Still, it was nan attraction connected information that made nan Tucker 48 unique. Inside, location was nary dashboard; instead, location was an quiet safe area for passengers successful nan arena of a crash. The remainder of nan dash was padded, and nan compartment was reinforced, conscionable for illustration successful modern vehicles. The windshield besides popped retired during a crash, truthful it didn't break complete nan passengers. And, yes, nan prima of nan show was nan halfway 'cyclops' headlight, which turned pinch nan wheels to illuminate nan corners.

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The Smart Roadster is 1 of those cars that you request to spot successful personification to genuinely admit its size. At conscionable 134.9 inches agelong and 63.6 inches wide, it's importantly smaller than a Mazda MX-5 Miata. The Roadster is debased for illustration a racecar, too, measuring conscionable 46.9 inches successful height. Oh, and it weighs conscionable 1,742 pounds, truthful it's a nosy point to propulsion astir corners. The rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout pinch 44:56 percent weight distribution favors nan handling, too.

Unfortunately, nan Smart Roadster missed a fewer ingredients to scope legendary status. The 698cc three-cylinder motor might've been turbocharged, but it still produced conscionable 80 hp successful nan Coupe. 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) took a leisurely 10 seconds. The convertible was moreover disposable pinch a 60-hp tune, which sprinted to 62 successful snail-like 15.5 seconds. Still, nan automated manual was nan biggest letdown. Slow. Clunky. Just a symptom to use. Why connected Earth Smart didn't connection a manual action is baffling, arsenic it would've been a overmuch amended option.

But nan Smart Roadster was each astir being chic. Modern. And astatine nan move of this century, a sequential gearbox surely fitted that leitmotif. It looked nan part, too. Oh, and it was besides disposable arsenic a regular, soft-top convertible and nan targa-like Roadster Coupe. The highlight, though, came from Brabus. The esteemed German tuner merged 2 698cc engines together, creating a 1.4-liter biturbo Smart Roadster pinch 168 hp and 162 lb-ft of torque. Sounds exciting, right? Unfortunately, it was only a prototype.

Yes, nan RUF CTR Yellowbird is simply a Porsche 911 underneath. But successful reality, RUF built 29 examples from scratch utilizing proprietary aliases upgraded parts. Admittedly, immoderate Yellowbirds were converted from customer cars. Still, nan RUF tuner did specified a awesome occupation that the CTR Yellowbird was nan world's fastest sports car successful its era pinch a apical velocity of 213 mph. Not a mini feat erstwhile you see CTR Yellowbird's rivals astatine nan time. The Ferrari F40 topped retired astatine 201 mph. Porsche 959: 199 mph. The stunning Countach 5000QV could only muster 183 mph.

RUF achieved nan feat utilizing a 3.4-liter twin-turbo flat-six, bully for 469 hp. Yes, this doesn't sound for illustration overmuch from today's perspective, but successful a assemblage that weighed conscionable 2,579 pounds, that's frankly bonkers. 0-60 successful 3.7 seconds and 0-100 successful 7.8 seconds is bonkers. The CTR Yellowbird was slippery, too; RUF deliberately chose a constrictive 911 Carrera assemblage and implemented a azygous 935-style broadside reflector for aerodynamics. A important add-on was besides nan five-speed transmission, though 1 illustration was besides equipped pinch a six-speed. Porsches astatine nan clip only had four-speed transmissions.

Still, nan CTR Yellowbird wasn't conscionable a straight-line demon. RUF besides added a rotation cage and made important improvements to nan chassis, brakes, and cooling for amended capacity connected nan track. The rear tea-tray spoiler besides ensured that nan CTR Yellowbird remained unchangeable astatine higher velocities. All this resulted successful a brisk 8-minute, 5-second thigh astir nan Nürburgring Nordschleife.